GE Citizenship

Expert Perspective: Supporting Diversity

John J-H Kim
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The District Management Council

Expert opinions included on this web site have not been edited by GE. View full disclaimer.

The changing demographics and the projected growth of minority groups as a percentage of the U.S. population make supporting diversity a critical issue for our society. For U.S. corporations, this demographic trend is a key challenge as companies think about their future workforce, about understanding and meeting the needs of a changing base of consumers, and about supporting diversity within their organizations to better position themselves to understand their customers and their workforce.

Many companies claim that they are focusing their efforts on supporting diversity. But, in many cases, what you find are “islands of excellence” within companies. One company may have an exemplary mentoring program, another may have a highly effective recruiting program, and another may have a strong professional development programs for minorities.

But, to really move the needle on the challenge of supporting diversity, a systemic approach must be taken. Within the company, supporting diversity means not only actively recruiting minorities, but providing mentoring, seeking to promote diverse candidates, conducting diversity climate surveys, incorporating diversity goals into managers’ performance plans and reviews, and measuring results. But beyond that, a truly systemic approach must include ensuring a pipeline of high-potential diverse candidates.

Supporting education for students with diverse backgrounds and ensuring that they have the skills needed to join the workforce is essential to have a game-changing impact on diversity in the workplace. At the District Management Council, in our work with public school districts, it is clear that the districts most successful in making progress on closing the achievement gap and turning out high-performing high school graduates are taking a system-wide approach to this problem. These districts are seeking to align standards and curriculum from Kindergarten through high school. Goals are aligned such that everything from professional development for teachers to the work of the School Boards is focused on achieving the stated goals. Another key feature is measurement and assessment, so that effectiveness can be reviewed and a continuous cycle of improvement can be instituted.

GE and GE Foundation’s investing in education for disadvantaged youth, support of college scholarships for students of diverse backgrounds, mentoring of students, and promoting diversity within the corporation are all part of creating the kind of systemic change that can produce results. We are encouraged to hear about this work, and look forward to hearing more, and seeing the fruits of these efforts.

Read John J-H Kim’s bio on the District Management Council web site